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discovered zwiftrankings last night. some pretty interesting graphs if you like that sort of thing...
http://zwiftrankings.com/vcr/client/racer/9733/lifetime/all/2
Pierre - MemberAnd then I checked the turbo and found I had a flat tyre... bugger. How the hell do you get a puncture on a turbo? I'll find out later.
Good to hear it's not just me! I've had two punctures so far on the turbo trainer...
I think the first one was a bit of grit in the tyre had been pushed through by the roller into the tube and eventually punctured it.
The second one was a previous puncture repair - the patch was peeling off. I bought some cheap patches from ebay & they are rubbish - a bugger to put on & don't seem to stay attached very well.
So, they're going in the bin....
I've never had much success with self-adhesive patches, they're a half-decent get-you-home measure but if you want a permanent repair, the old school glue and patch method is best. The glue is "vulcanising rubber solution", which partly liquefies the inner tube and the patch so that they become as near as possible to one continuous piece of rubber*, which forms a much better long-term seal.
*NB may contain not very accurate sub-GCSE chemistry.
jam bo - Member
discovered zwiftrankings last night. some pretty interesting graphs if you like that sort of thing...http://zwiftrankings.com/vcr/client/racer/9733/lifetime/all/2
Yeah that was posted a few pages back (20 or so 😆 )
Interestingly I appear to be cat 1 now... http://zwiftrankings.com/vcr/client/racer/98508/lifetime/all/1
You're ranked a couple of places higher than Andrew Talansky 🙂
I'll need to get back in and complete more racing if that's my goal.
I'm in a bit of a quandry with that though at the moment, well, indeed with my training in general.
Do i do race/intensity.... Or do i do the longer slower plodding .... OK, so it's not necessarily plodding, it's 180w-220w for example, but for longer times....
It's a question i've run out of answers to in all honesty...
i THINK that longer/slower is the way forward for me... but am i correct... i don't actually know.
What are you training for, weeksy? If it's racing, my limited training knowledge would suggest that doing more racing would be a very good way of training.
As Graham Obree said, more or less, "yes I could do interval training, but nobody competes in an interval race."
Do i do race/intensity.... Or do i do the longer slower plodding .... OK, so it's not necessarily plodding, it's 180w-220w for example, but for longer times....It's a question i've run out of answers to in all honesty...
i THINK that longer/slower is the way forward for me... but am i correct... i don't actually know.
depends on your mentality. I find long slow rides on the turbo awful. even with zwift.
turning myself inside out trying to hang on for an hour is almost fun...
I have no idea which is better for me, but I know which I prefer.
General plan is things like the SDW, White roads 100 miler... So the events that have now become my 'focus' are different to what i thougth they were going to be this time 2-3 months ago.
Back then i was thinking of things like the WGS Enduro event or possibly even Crit racing with NathB and Crosshair as my targets. But i've come to the realisation that from an 'event' perspective it's more likely to be the longer days out than the sprints that get my money and attention. From a generic riding perspective that's been more what i do, along with the trips to Swinley/Afan etc with mates.
I have in the past had times where i think i've been at my 'peak' but as most of my training has been <1hr rides, i've found that once i get to 90-120 mins then i'm really hitting a wall as my body has decided it's already time to finish..
So that's more where i'm thinking my training 'should' go... but i openly admit, i'm not very good at the planning aspect of riding.
It's also entirely possible that these events are not 'ideal' for me, i could sit and think i'd be better in a relative context at Crit stuff, XC Racing... but i don't forsee my riding going that way so much.
On the whole, riding has been about 'being outdoors' along with maintaining/controling my weight... Zwift being an indoors/outdoors thing and bringing in the racing has kind of skewed the thoughts a bit over winter, mostly in a great and brilliant way of course.... but has been a bit of a confusing thing too.
mrblobby
You're ranked a couple of places higher than Andrew Talansky
Clearly missing my true calling here 😆
My understanding of training is build a base "the foundations", then build upon the base with decent recovery in between. Intervals will help quick recovery, and if your aim is to get out in amongst a crit race?, then short sharp increases in paces with quick recoveries are what is required (CH will vouch for that).
Ultimately I think you need to set an objective if you're going down the hardcore training route, if not and you just want to lose weight/increase in fitness then as you are sir (with recovery days to avoid going backwards).
Ultimately I think you need to set an objective if you're going down the hardcore training route, if not and you just want to lose weight/increase in fitness then as you are sir.
Good advice from Nath.
If you want to do longer stuff you need to do longer rides, and you'll need to find more hours in the week. 100mi events on a MTB in any sort of challenging terrain are realistically 8-12hrs, and you can't teach the body to deal with that in 1 hr rides.
Ideally you need to set a date for a target event and work backwards, but even at this stage its time to start working in some endurance. I'd suggest starting with 2x1hr zwift races and 2x2hr z2 sessions. As you move closer to the event it should start to look more like: 1x1hr zwift race, 2x2hr z2, 1x5hr z1-3.
Pierre - MemberI've never had much success with self-adhesive patches, they're a half-decent get-you-home measure but if you want a permanent repair, the old school glue and patch method is best. The glue is "vulcanising rubber solution", which partly liquefies the inner tube and the patch so that they become as near as possible to one continuous piece of rubber*, which forms a much better long-term seal.
Yeah. I always use the old school method of squeezy glue & patches.
I think it's just that the patches I used are rubbish. They are too stiff so don't conform to the tube very well & don't seem sticky in the first place.
I pulled the one that was peeling off & replaced it with an plain black patch from a repair kit - none of this feather edge nonsense. It was much easier to use & was stuck in no time....
I just can't find anywhere that does those style patches anymore apart from 6 in a 'repair kit' for £3.
I can't work out why they now put the clear(ish) layer on top of the patches now, the stuff that's next to impossible to get off... Do people remove that or leave it on ?
Re inner tubes, as bad as this is for the environment; continental race tubes are £2.80 from "Shopto". I repair out in the field then bin and replace with a new one when home (checking the tyre for debris).
I've only done 3 rides over 30 miles since starting Zwift 2 months ago, I'm concerned that I'm training myself to do 1hr flat out efforts but will struggle on longer.
The Strava fitness chart indicates I'm as fit as I ever was last summer which is good but I've not done any club rides to see if I can stick with the fast group for a change.
Re inner tubes, as bad as this is for the environment; continental race tubes are £2.80 from "Shopto". I repair out in the field then bin and replace with a new one when home (checking the tyre for debris).
I do the exact opposite - if I get a puncture when I'm out and about I replace it with a new tube (I always carry 2) then when I get home I fix the punctured tube so it can be used again.
cheers_drive - MemberI've only done 3 rides over 30 miles since starting Zwift 2 months ago, I'm concerned that I'm training myself to do 1hr flat out efforts but will struggle on longer.
The Strava fitness chart indicates I'm as fit as I ever was last summer which is good but I've not done any club rides to see if I can stick with the fast group for a change.
don't get me wrong, when i've ridden outdoors recently since Zwifting, the improvements have been brilliant... it's all better, speed, stamina, fitness, recovery.... It's a golden....
But that doesn't necessarily mean i'm training the best i can... only a lot better than i was 🙂
The longest ride I've done on Zwift so far was 1'15" (one of the FTP builder sessions) and I can't really see me doing much longer than that. I do longer rides outside pretty much every week, however I find rides over an hour on the turbo get pretty uncomfortable, probably 'cause I'm not moving about much.
Anyone had a Wahoo Snap via Apple? Do they still offer a full refund even if the item is used if returned within 14/30 days?
Ultimately I think you need to set an objective if you're going down the hardcore training route, if not and you just want to lose weight/increase in fitness then as you are sir
What nathb says 🙂 Just think about the hard/easy thing a bit and get in a mix of intensities. As much "fun" as racing is, maybe swap one with a fairly spirited longer ride, nice and steady on the flats, making a few bridging moves to groups up ahead, pushing on a bit on a KOM. Or maybe a day when you just do short properly hard efforts with lots of easy spinning in between. Just mix it up a bit.
Is interesting to see how Zwift is changing the way people train now there's pretty much a virtual race you can do every day if you fancy, instead of the traditional one or two a week and only during a racing season.
On the topic of longer rides on turbo/zwift. Following the recommendation of an earlier poster I've been testing one of those weird looking ISM saddles. It needed a layback post to get right position but it's made a big difference to amount of discomfort/numbness on rides over an hour. Did 2+ hours yesterday over two stints with a short break and felt fine after.
I think I'm going to do the Team Italy race at 17:40 tonight, although there is a good chance I'll do one lap quick (for me) then cruise round the remaining 2 at 2W/kg. Hopefully I'll find a group this time though - my one and only previous race I was pretty much on my own for the whole thing.
I think I'm going to do the Team Italy race at 17:40 tonight, although there is a good chance I'll do one lap quick (for me) then cruise round the remaining 2 at 2W/kg. Hopefully I'll find a group this time though - my one and only previous race I was pretty much on my own for the whole thing.
Looks like I managed 2nd in the D's in the provisional results anyway. The guy that beat me was miles up the road (4 minutes) as he averaged 3W/kg. His time would have been good enough for 10th in the C's, so no idea what he was doing in D - doesn't look like that race is set-up to DQ for exceeding the category limits though.
Did the BRS 10mile TT. I've ridden the 10 a few times on the other turbo. Toddays time was 1 min quicker overall. But i lost in a gasping finish over the line to a guy, it was like watching the horrible breaks in tours, where you know he's getting done on the line, i could see him closing, closing, closing... he did me with <15m to go !
Set my FTP to 295... boy i worked for it !
Just about to give racing a bash, cat D in the kiss in around 5 minutes. I'll let you know when I collapse
Anyone racing Si Richardson from GCN live on You Tube?
Can't see any STW tags!
Wooo, Very happy!
Commuted today which is 13 miles and tried my best to stay in Z1 (failed but hey ho).
I did a 10 min warm up on Zwift then reset the stages and calibrated the Vortex. I have now just completed the 45 min FTP test using the stages synced to Zwift and the Vortex to my mio. The Vortex is erm rather out, but the good news is using the stages my shiny new FTP =
[b]305w!!! = 4.36w/kg.[/b]
I'm back in cat A with the moral of the story being reset the stages before usage!! I'll post up the difference between my Vortex and Stages later, right now I need to be sick a little and eat.
I always calibrate my power meter before every ride (indoor or outdoor) - apparently they can be quite sensitive to conditions and calibration only takes a few seconds.
On the subject of calibration - there's no way of calibrating my Elite Rampa without a power meter (not within budget this year). Does this mean my FTP/power output and corresponding zwift performance might as well be measured in pixie farts?
Does this mean my FTP/power output and corresponding zwift performance might as well be measured in pixie farts?
Indeed it does. As long as those are consistend pixie farts then it's not really a problem though, as 99% of folks on Zwift probably have either inaccurate power readings or dodgy weights!
My turbo and power meter are reasonably close, however I've decided to use the power meter as the power source so it'll be consistent with outdoor rides.
suspect the Rampa is overestimating my power output, but as long as its reasonably consistent then don't suppose it really matters. It's only a game, right?
I'm not built for racing, gave in after 2 laps. pretty sure it was only unicycles and penny farthings behind me.
I know the feeling Nuts. Still 97kg so even putting out almost 300w for my race its only going to be 3.1w/kg Lol. I wish I was in the 70s like some. I'd be a beast.
Although the way I eat, its unlikely to get much better lol
I think on a course like last night (volcano flat) you'd be right up there at 300W. If you look at the top 5 I was the lightest
Excuse my poor paint skills, but you'll see the difference okay hopefully:
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http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r129/nathb89/Bike/SvV2.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
My vortex is just doing it's own thing!
For the race today I took some of the advice from this thread and dialed in 500W+ for the start, which briefly put me in the lead although only for a few yards. I was slightly slow getting a photo so had already been passed by the time I got this one (that's me on the left):
[img] 
[/img]
I then kept the pace up for the first third of the race or so which meant I was able to keep with the Cat-C riders and get a tow from them. I then backed off a bit for the next 3rd of the race (not that I had a choice if I wanted to make it to the end!) and then a bit more for the final third - still ending up close to my FTP for the race. Based on my calcs I'd have been a 2.45W/kg average for the race (although Zwiftpower can't seem to decide if I exceeded the category limits or not as that's changed a few times now!). I only saw one other Cat-D rider for the whole race (the guy that won Cat-D with a 3W/kg average that'd have seen him 10th in Cat-C) as I think the initial stint with the Cat-C riders meant that the other Cat-D riders (including the guy that eventually beat me) they were a good bit back after the first 20 minutes.
I think on a course like last night (volcano flat) you'd be right up there at 300W. If you look at the top 5 I was the lightest
On the flatter courses total power matters more than W/kg.
I saw you on the first lap nuts 🙂 might just be a pacing thing, that group we were in ended up with about 2.4w/kg. If you'd gone for the group behind you might have been able to maintain it. I got about 3 miles from the end and totally died. They all zoomed off.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all, the difference as a rider from starting out in Oct is crazy. The turbo I was using then had just been checked and was accurate, I couldn't hold 2w/kg. So to now be holding 3 is brilliant. I was in a bunch of 6 for most of the race, some pulled out on me, I gapped a couple. All in all, I'm very happy.
Rest day tomorrow. He says, like today wasn't supposed to be one, and yesterday lol. Its bloody addictive!
I raced the GCN race in Cat A 🙂
I wanted to prove a bit of a point about drafting. It is AS ESSENTIAL a skill as in real road racing (says mr 4 Crits 😀 )
Anyway, 3.1w/kg (275w / 291 weighted) was enough to get me within 3 minutes of Si Richardson and about midfield (roughly 43/85) in A.
Power is great. Laziness is greater 🙂
@Nath- great job mate! You'll be buzzing on Saturday now 🙂
@CH - I think without the commute I could have squeezed a few more w but yeah I'm chuffed that it's not such a huge drop - 30w instead on 50w originally thought.
Race sounds fun, glad Zwift didn't crash! Did they solve their server issue by not advertising GCN as much as last time? 😆
have been working so far on an estimated FTP around 200, which tied in relatively well to the outputs on various rides I did just after getting my Tacx
Today i did the 45 minute FTP test. Jeez, that's a pleasant way to spend an evening.
Now at 214W; combined with my chub club reductions (down from 95 to 91kg) I reckon that's FTP from 2.1 up to about 2.35W/kg. Which is still distinctly pathetic compared to most on here, but it's going up at least!!
@Nath- yes basically I think 😀
Ah. After I trim off the cool down, it was 295w average. Still only 3.3 w/kg though..
Watts are king in the draft on the flat. I was often sat at 2.6 whilst the whippets around me were doing 3.9-4.1! The attacks are brutal in A though. Every small rise was a full on sprint for me not to get dropped!
I would say that is the closest match yet to a Hillingdon race....